


the new romeo and juliet

by imposterhuman



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Detectives, Alternate Universe - Firefighters, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - No Powers, Enemies to Lovers, Established Relationship, Firefighter Bucky Barnes, Fluff, Inspired by Brooklyn Nine-Nine (TV), James "Rhodey" Rhodes & Tony Stark Friendship, M/M, Natasha Romanov & Tony Stark Friendship, Soft Bucky Barnes, Tony Being Tony, Tony has a heart, detective Tony stark, kind of, soft tony stark, winteriron
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-30
Updated: 2019-09-30
Packaged: 2020-11-08 01:36:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,179
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20827208
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/imposterhuman/pseuds/imposterhuman
Summary: Bucky and Tony weren’t dating, because a firefighter and a detective couldn’t date (never mind that Tony hadn’t slept with anyone else since their thing had started, and he and Bucky hung out with an alarming frequency, and the whole precinct thought that they were an item). It didn't matter how many nights they spent together, how Bucky had a drawer of Tony's things and vice versa, they just couldn't.It was a classic Romeo and Juliet situation, if Romeo and Juliet actively disliked each other on top of everything.





	the new romeo and juliet

**Author's Note:**

> enjoy!!!

Tony, like all other detectives, absolutely hated the fire department. It was one of the few requirements of being on the force: don’t ask Fury about the eyepatch (which was only loosely enforced), don’t hit on Natasha (which was enforced far more strongly), and don’t associate with firefighters. 

Tony could follow that rule just fine. While the firefighters were hot and totally his type, he preferred a side of brains with his brawn. 

So he felt no shame when he hopped out of the patrol car, waving smugly as Rhodey honked the horn. 

“Disperse!” he announced into the bullhorn he bought specifically for the occasion, with NYPD emblazoned ostentatiously on the side. “You are not needed anymore!” 

“Shut up, Stark,” the fire chief, Steve Rogers, called back. “It’s a fire, it’s our jurisdiction.”

“Yeah, Stark,” Clint echoed from where he was rolling the hose back up. “Let New York’s bravest handle it.”

“They only call you that because  _ New York’s best at spraying things with water _ was too long,” Tony stuck his tongue out. It was a shame Clint was a firefighter; Tony figured they would have gotten along well otherwise.

He smirked as Rhodey came up next to him. “No, it isn’t,” Rhodey said to Steve, holding out a warrant. “Since it was arson, it is officially ours.”

“He means suck it,” Tony clarified innocently. “In case  _ warrant  _ was too difficult of a word.”

He smiled winningly as Steve took the warrant from Rhodey to read over. “We’ll lend you our arson expert,” he said in a tone that brokered no argument. “Unless one of you is better qualified?”

Tony started to raise a hand, only to have it batted out of the air by Rhodey. “That’d be great, Rogers,” he said, shaking the man’s hand. “Tony, shut up.”

“I didn’t say anything!” Tony complained. “I want a new partner.”

“If anyone else at the precinct would work with you, maybe you could have one,” Rhodey rolled his eyes. “Alas, you have the social skills of a racoon on crack cocaine.”

“I agree,” Bucky Barnes swaggered up to them, wearing remarkably few clothes for someone who ran into burning buildings. The man was unfairly attractive for a firefighter, something Tony complained a lot about to the other detectives at the precinct. “I heard you needed an arson expert?”

Despite Bucky’s attractiveness, or maybe because of it, the two didn’t get along. There had been an ill-advised one night stand on the night Tony made detective and Bucky, coincidentally, had made assistant fire chief. Tony had been too drunk to read Bucky’s shirt logo, and Bucky had missed the badge clipped to Tony’s belt. 

Only, one night turned into another, and another, and another until there was a drawer of Bucky’s clothes at Tony’s apartment. They both maintained that it was for ease after a night together. They weren’t dating, because a firefighter and a detective couldn’t date (never mind that Tony hadn’t slept with anyone else since their thing had started, and he and Bucky hung out with an alarming frequency, and the whole precinct thought that they were an item). 

It was a classic Romeo and Juliet situation, if Romeo and Juliet actively disliked each other and their families were the ones encouraging them to finally get together.

“Practical experience doesn’t count,” Tony sassed, glaring.

Bucky met Tony’s eyes, raising a thick brow. “Funny,” he drawled. “I should be saying that to you. How many fires have you set in your apartment just this week?”

“I was trying to make you pancakes, you ungrateful buffoon,” hissed Tony, huffing indignantly. “Fuck you.”

Bucky winked mischievously. “Actually-”

“Nope!” Rhodey cut in, waving his hands. “No. I have heard too much about Tony’s sex life, I don’t want to hear more. We have a case,  _ please _ talk about the case.”

“If you insist, Honey Bear,” sighed Tony, slinging an arm around his partner. “We know it was arson; were there any witnesses to the initial blaze?”

“None,” Bucky shook his head. “It was the middle of the night. We only have the gasoline cans stacked outside for evidence.”

“You already got a CSI team in there?” Rhodey asked, in full detective mode.

“Despite what you detectives think, we aren’t completely incompetent,” Bucky deadpanned. “We got one in as soon as we suspected arson.”

“After you contaminated all of the evidence, of course,” Tony added helpfully. 

“You’re absolutely correct,” Bucky rolled his eyes, making an unimpressed face. “Next time we’ll just let the building burn down. That’ll save the evidence.”

Tony couldn’t think of anything witty to say back, so he just stuck his tongue out. Bucky had definitely won that round. He’d be insufferable about it later, Tony knew, the way he always was when he outwitted the detective. 

“Leaving the cans behind is sloppy,” Rhodey continued. “Maybe he’s inexperienced?”

“Or,” Tony thought for a moment. “He’s not sloppy at all and it’s a message.”

“Not everything is a message, Tones,” argued Rhodey. “I’m going with an amateur. I’ll look into smaller fires in the area, see if there’s a connection.”

“And because you’re dumb,  _ I’ll  _ look into big fires with this signature,” Tony decided. “Loser buys drinks?”

“You’re on,” the two detectives shook hands. 

Bucky looked back and forth between the pair, confused. “Your relationship is so weird.”

“You say, as if you and Tony don’t have a star crossed lovers who also hate each other thing going on,” Rhodey shot back. “Stay in your lane, fireboy.”

“Rhodey!” Tony protested, smacking his friend. “Shut up or I’m telling Nat you’re bullying me.”

Rhodey cackled meanly, taking out his car keys. “I’ll meet you back at the precinct,” he said. “You can get a ride with Bucky here, can’t you?”

“I thought you didn’t want to hear more about our sex life?” Tony smirked, relishing in Rhodey’s disgusted groan as he practically ran for the car, leaving Tony and Bucky alone.

“Are you coming over later, doll?” asked Bucky, deliberately casual. He didn’t make eye contact, preferring to examine a particularly interesting scorch mark on the building’s wall. “I’ll make pasta.”

Tony nodded. “I get off work at 5,” he said. “Unless we have a lead by then, which I doubt. I can grab a bottle of wine and come by at 6?”

“Sounds good,” Bucky’s smile made something flutter in Tony’s chest that he refused to name. 

“Out of curiosity, and not because I care about your opinion one way or another, what do you think of the fire?” babbled Tony, trying to change the subject before mushy feelings got involved. 

“Well,” Bucky considered. “I think it was an experienced arsonist who is sending some kind of message, obviously. It’s very-”

“Yeah, yeah,” Tony flapped a hand. “You don’t have to flatter me, you know. I’ll sleep with you anyway. I’m remarkably easy.”

Bucky’s smile looked wrong, twisted and fake, stretched too tight over his face. “Come on. I’ll give you a ride back to the precinct,” he offered. “You can ride in the front seat and I’ll even turn the sirens on.”

“Fuck off,” Tony grumbled, following Bucky. “I’m not riding in the fucking fire truck, sirens or no. I have  _ some  _ dignity. Didn’t you take your motorcycle here?”

“Last time you rode on my motorcycle, you told me you’d rather walk across traffic blindfolded than trust my driving again.”

“That was ages ago,” he said airily. “I’m sure you’ve gotten better.”

“That was this morning,” Bucky said, unimpressed. “When I dropped you off at work.”

Tony visibly swallowed his pride. Bucky’s motorcycle, hot as it was to see the firefighter ride it, was a death trap. It didn’t help that Bucky drove like a maniac, either. “If you turn on the sirens, you’re dead to me.”

Bucky chuckled fondly. “Noted.”

(When Tony went to Fury’s office to report unlawful use of a siren by one Assistant Chief James Barnes, Fury glared so hard that Tony thought he might lose his remaining eye.)

\---

By the time 5 rolled around, Tony was running on fumes. He had gotten a lead, some guy named Killian, but the warrants wouldn’t be processed until tomorrow. He had half a mind to stay and work a little longer, but he knew he had to leave soon in order to make it to the liquor store and Bucky’s place by 6.

Just a few more pages, he thought, and he’d find a stopping point. 

“Hey, lover boy,” Natasha startled him out of his reading ten minutes later by rapping her deadly nails on his desk. “Don’t you have a date in an hour?”

Tony jumped. “Jesus Christ, Romanov!” he hissed. Of course she struck when he was exhausted; she was cunning like that. “I have a heart condition!”

“Stop working,” she ignored his protests, leaning in to fix the rumpled collar of his shirt. “Go on your date.”

“How do you even know that?” complained Tony, batting her hands away. “We literally exchanged two lines. That shouldn’t have piqued your super spy sense.”

Natasha smiled mysteriously. “I have my ways.”

“Barton told you, didn’t he?”

“I have my ways,” she repeated. Barton definitely told her, Tony decided. “Go home, change your outfit, then go to Barnes’s place. And be on time tomorrow morning.”

“What’s wrong with my outfit?” he asked, disregarding the rest of her sentence. 

“We don’t have time to get into that,” Natasha waved a hand. “Point is, you’re hot, and you’re dressed like a middle-aged secretary.”

“It’s laundry day, fuck off,” he grumbled, adjusting his tie. “Bucky doesn’t seem to have a problem with it.”

“Because it’s not like you wear a lot of clothes at his place, anyway,” she said, rolling her eyes. “Men are useless.”

“It’s not actually a date, Natasha,” Tony cut off her fussing gently. “It’s dinner, then we’ll fuck, and then I’ll go home. No romance involved.”

Natasha glared at him. “Men are useless,” she repeated. “He has a thing for you, Tony. Don’t be stupid; you’re too good of a detective for that.”

“Aw, Nat, that’s-”

“And don’t string him along if there’s really nothing there on your end,” she finished quietly. “It’s not fair to either of you.”

With that, she slipped away silently. Tony sat still for a long moment, thinking. Then he closed the case file and pushed away from his desk, Natasha’s words ringing in his ears. His clothes were fine, he figured. With any luck, they’d be ending up on Bucky’s floor, anyway. 

Tony barely remembered the drive to Bucky’s apartment, only that he probably broke several speed limit laws to get there. He was a detective; he was allowed. What was the point of being in law enforcement if not to occasionally break the law?

He only realized he was without the promised wine when he raised his hand to knock on Bucky’s door. He hoped Bucky wouldn’t be upset. Despite himself, he was practically shaking with nerves. Still, he rapped once, twice, then stepped back and hid his trembling hands behind his back.

“Tony?” Bucky opened the door, confused. The scent of cooking floated into the hallway. “Is something wrong? I thought you weren’t coming until-”

Tony cut him off with a kiss. “I like you,” he said plainly while Bucky visibly caught his breath. “I like you a stupid amount, and I’m really hoping you like me too, or this is going to get awkward.”

Bucky’s answering grin had Tony’s heart skipping a beat. “Took you long enough, doll,” he teased, opening the door wide enough for Tony to step inside. “I’ve been gone on you for ages. I thought you were supposed to be a detective?”

“Don’t make me change my mind,” Tony warned, leaning in for another lazy kiss. 

“Not to ruin the mood,” ventured Bucky, leading Tony to the sofa and sitting down next to him. “But what  _ did  _ change your mind? I thought…”

“Natasha pulled my head out of my ass,” Tony shrugged, blushing faintly. He knotted his hands in his lap and stared up at Bucky. “And I like you too much to want to hide it anymore.”

“Sap,” Bucky said fondly, ruffling his hair with a hand. “Does this mean the whole firefighter/detective rivalry can be over?”

Tony pursed his lips. “It’s on hold,” he decided. He couldn’t abolish it completely, not when it was a department-wide policy and he was just a lowly detective. “You’re okay, but Barton is on thin fucking ice.”

“You know what?” Bucky kissed him sweetly. “I’ll take it.”

Tony pulled away sooner than he wanted to, nose wrinkling. “Is that… smoke?” he sniffed the air. It certainly smelled like something was burning. “Is something on fire?”

“Only my desire for you,” Bucky started playfully, stopping when he smelled the smoke. All of the blood drained from his face as he ran for the fire extinguisher. “Oh, god, the pasta!”

(Tony wasn’t sure if his lungs burned from the smoke inhalation or from laughing so hard that he cried. Both, he decided, were equally likely.)

**Author's Note:**

> comments and kudos make me a happy writer
> 
> come hit me up on tumblr [@imposter-human](https://imposter-human.tumblr.com/)


End file.
